I understood it and realized what he meant.

I understood it and realized what he meant. Tears choked me and I pushed them back and kept silent, as I knew that tribulation had come upon us. As for my aunt, she heard what I heard, [but since] she was a woman -and tenderness and grief are part of a woman- she could not control herself. She jumped up and went near [al-Husayn], while her clothes dragged on the ground and her head was uncovered. She cried out: “What a bereavement! If only death would deprive me of life!

[There was] a day when my mother, Fatimah, died and [then] my father, ‘Ali and [then] al-Hasan, my brother. Only you have remained O the successor and the surviving of those who have gone!”[^6] So al-Husayn (as) looked at her and said: “O sister, do not let Shaitan take away your forebearance.” [My aunt] said: “May my father and mother be your ransom, O Aba ‘Abdillah! Are you ready to die?

May my life be sacrificed for you!” [Here my father] swallowed his grief and his eyes filled with tears and he said: “[Remenber] if the sandgrouse are left [alone] at night, they will sleep [i.e. had these people left me on my own, I would not have come here].” [At this] she lamented: “O my grief! Is your life going to be violently wrenched from you?!

This is too wounding to my heart and harsher to my soul”, and then she struck her face and grabbed the upper part of her garment and [began to] tear it and fell down in a faint. So al-Husayn (as) got up and sprinkled water on to her face and consoled her [saying]: “O sister, fear Allah and take comfort in the consolation of Allah. Know that the people on the earth are [all] going to die and the inhabitants of heaven will not live [forever].

Everything is going to perish except the face of Allah who created the earth by His power, sends forth creatures and [ultimately] they [all] return [back to him]. He is unique and alone. [O my sister,] my father was better than me, my mother was better than me and my brother was better than me. They and I and every Muslim have an ideal model in the Prophet of Allah (S).” [Al-Husayn (as)] tried to console her by this and the like and then said to her: “Sister!

I swear to you -and I [always] keep my oaths- that you must not tear your clothes, nor scratch your face, nor cry out in grief and loss when I die.” [Al-Husayn (as)] then brought her and made her sit with me. He [then] went to his companions and ordered them to bring their tents closer together and to make the tent-pegs come within the area of each other’s tents.